Encoded information reading (EIR) terminals equipped with wireless communication interfaces are widely used in retail stores, shipping facilities, etc. While wireless communication of EIR terminals with host computers offer many advantages as compared to wired communications, traditional wireless networks have noticeable shortcomings, including connectivity and network throughput related issues, as well as the high cost of the wireless infrastructure. The connectivity-related issues can be caused, e.g., by “dead zones” created by metal structures and thick reinforced concrete walls within buildings. Network throughput is usually limited by the number and capacity of wireless access points and wireless portals. Attempts to improve the connectivity and throughput by increasing the number of wireless access point invariably lead to substantial growth of the infrastructure roll-out and maintenance costs.
Further, EIR terminals usually employ a power management scheme according to which a terminal would go to a sleeping state in the absence of any inputs received from the terminal operator. A terminal in a sleeping state is usually not capable of receiving data frames incoming over the terminal's wireless communication interfaces, thus burdening the frame sender with the task of performing frame buffering and retransmission attempts.
Accordingly, there is a need for further advances in EIR terminals and systems which would alleviate the connectivity, network throughput, power management, and cost-related problems.